The present invention relates to padded jaw animal traps generally, and relates more particularly to improvements in the padding material capable of minimizing initial shock load on closing without significant reduction in ultimate holding power of the trap.
Animal traps have been in use for many years in the animal control and fur trapping industry, and are widespread in their application. Generally, a pair of jaws are biased from a set position towards a sprung position by an actuator device, which can be a spring or other means. The jaws are generally retained in a set position by a latch and trigger mechanism, wherein the animal initiates operation of the trap by actuating the trigger mechanism. Once triggered, the jaws clamp shut, retaining an extremity of the animal therebetween.
The padding of animal trap jaws, indeed, is well known, as can be seen in the following patents:
______________________________________ Country Pat. No. Patentee ______________________________________ United States 870,251 Rasmussen United States 1,461,743 Accola United States 1,825,193 Maddox United States 2,128,579 Corey United States 2,146,464 Briddell United States 2,316,970 O'Neil United States 3,939,596 Webley England 18,632 Mitchell ______________________________________
The purpose of the padding material is to reduce the peak loads applied to the animal's extremity due to the inertial forces of the jaws' closing. Generally, the actuating springs are sized so as to provide the necessary retention force between the jaws to prevent the animal from withdrawing his extremity from the trap. With the advent of padded jaws, it became somewhat easier for an animal to withdraw a paw by causing the padding material to roll about the longitudinal axis of the jaw itself. The flexible nature of the material utilized in the pad, and the thickness of the pad, contribute to this roll-out disadvantage which is attributable to the prior art padded jaws.
To compensate for this disadvantage, stronger actuator springs could be utilized to maintain the holding power of the animal trap. Unfortunately, when the actuating spring strength is increased, the inertial impact of the jaw on the animal's leg is also increased thereby defeating the purpose of the padding. To increase the retaining capabilities without requiring a stronger actuator, a special design of the padding face has been developed, as disclosed in commonly assigned co-pending U.S. Application Ser. No. 858,905, filed Dec. 8, 1977, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. It is still desired, however, to reduce the shock of the initial impact of the closing jaws on an animal's paw without significantly diminishing the ultimate retention power.
Additionally, problems exist in securing a padding material to a steel trap jaw in a manner which is reliable, and preferably, capable of ready replacement as the padding material becomes worn or damaged in use.